It's alive, but just not that interesting

April 14, 2006|By Michael Phillips, Tribune movie critic

There's a lot of snow but not much fire in "Subject Two," a low-budget item riffing on the themes established by Mary Shelley in her epochal 1817 novel, "Frankenstein." Shelley subtitled her book "The Modern Prometheus," after the mythological titan who stole fire from the gods and introduced it to mortals. Playing with metaphoric fire has served as the great theme of science fiction ever since Doctor F. conducted his grand, self-aggrandizing experiment in regenerating life.

Bringing back the dead, however, feels old hat by now, a feeling mitigated only in bits and pieces by this decently crafted plod. It relocates "Frankenstein" to a cabin high in the Colorado mountains near Aspen, remote enough to keep any chairlifts out of camera range.

A migraine-afflicted medical student, Adam (Christian Oliver), accepts an invitation by one Dr. Vick (Dean Stapleton) to aid him in his work in cryonics. The work's precise nature becomes clear once the doctor slits Adam's throat. He dies. Then the doctor brings him back, only to kill off him again and again, one way or the other.

Screenwriter Philip Chidel, who also edited and directed, doesn't play "Subject Two" for fright. The film ruminates on Shelley's themes, throwing in a few deadpan jokes. Oliver has the easier of the two leads, which he handles well. (He's also appearing May 3-13 as part of the Chicago Opera Theater production of "The Abduction From the Seraglio.") Far less effective is Singleton's Dr. Vick, who reveals little flair for all the high-flown philosophical blah-blah he must speak in between surgeries.

The movie features a tiny handful of actors besides Oliver and Stapleton. When Courtney Mace, who plays a gofer for the doctor, drops Adam off near the trail to the doctor's cabin, she drives off and you have the dispiriting suspicion she won't be re-entering the action. Some films impart the best, clammiest sort of claustrophobia. At best "Subject Two," essentially a two-person play on screen, settles for second-best.

`Subject Two'

(star)(star)

Directed, written and edited by Philip Chidel; cinematography by Rich Confalone; music by Erik Godal; produced by Philip Chidel, Christian Oliver and Dean Stapleton. A First Look Media release; runs through Thursday at the Music Box Theatre. Running time: 1:33.